It’s been more than a month since Pamilya Ko started serving us with love, inspiration, good vibes and drama every primetime through the stirring story of the Mabunga Family, which is comprised of uniquely endearing members impeccably portrayed by an impressive lineup of actors.
However, just when we thought that we’re following the journey of perfect family who seemed to interminably fill their home with affection, we later on realized that this series tells the story of every Filipino family, as it attests that there’s no such thing as a “perfect family” for problems and misunderstandings are highly inevitable in any relationship.
The once happy and tightly bonded family is currently in the verge of falling apart after Luz (Sylvia Sanchez) finally confirmed that her hunch of her husband Fernan (Joey Marquez) and her boss Loida (Irma Adlawan) used to have an illicit affair when they were still working together in Italy is true, as shown in the October 16 episode.
Well, she’s actually not the first one to know about deepest, darkest secret as their sons Chico (JM de Guzman) and Persi (Jairus Aquino) already knew about it, but they agreed to hide it for the sake of keeping their family intact. It was indeed an agonizing decision for both of them, but they felt that it was the right thing to do then, especially for their youngest siblings who would surely not understand the situation yet.
While knowing the painful truth was already heartbreaking, what made it severely excruciating for Luz was when she heard it from another person after Loida and Fernan both denied that they know each other after asking them in separate occasions. She learned about their real connection from Mario Salas, a client of Loida who’s also friends with Fernan ever since they were all still in Italy. According to him, the two had been really close to one another as they used to attend various activities and celebrations of the Filipino community there together.
In this episode, Sylvia’s star indeed shone bright for she was able to showcase her incredible and award-winning acting chops. She astounded us with how easy it was for her to shift from one emotion to another. From being deadpan as she listened to the story of Mario and recalled her conversations with Fernan, Loida, and Chico, to becoming distraught after her suspicion got confirmed that made her cry in deep anguish as she hastily exited the restaurant. She was able to convey various emotions by just the look in her eyes.
But what rend our hearts the most were her confrontation scenes with Fernan, wherein she didn’t speak a lot and just poured out real emotions a wife betrayed by her husband would certainly feel. By letting her tears roll down, evading every word or gestures from Fernan, and physically assaulting him, not to mention her bawling moment at Marikina Riverbanks under the heavy downpour, we’re able to truly feel the weight that has befallen onto her.
Nevertheless, the amazing outcome of the well-written script of this episode and Sylvia’s on-screen brilliance could also be credited to the impressive performance of her co-actors Joey Marquez, JM de Guzman, and Kiko Estrada, to whom she shared most the scenes.
Thus, it didn’t come as a surprise when the program’s hashtag of the day #PamilyaKoKatotohanan shot up to the top trending local topics on Twitter as netizens enthused about the veteran actress’ top-caliber performance. Here are some of them: